‘Tis the Set of the Sail

Ella Wheeler Wilcox 1916

But to every mind there openeth,

A way, and a way, and way.

A high soul climbs the highway,

And the low soul gropes the low.

And in between on the misty flats,

The rest drift to and fro.

 

But every man there openeth,

A high way and a low,

And every mind decideth,

The way his soul shall go.

 

One ship sails East,

And another West,

By the self-same winds that blow,

‘Tis the set of the sails

And not the gales,

That tells the way we go.

Like the winds of the sea

Are the waves of time,

As we journey along through life,

‘Tis the set of the soul,

That determines the goal,

And not the clam or the strife.